Can more worker engagement increase poultry processing yields?

Allowing workers to inspect individual operations in poultry processing plants and take remedial action could help operations to be more efficient and productive.

Monitoring equipment must be correctly calibrated and functioning properly. Staff close to operations may be better placed to ensure this than distant management. | (Eduardo Cervantes López)
Monitoring equipment must be correctly calibrated and functioning properly. Staff close to operations may be better placed to ensure this than distant management. | (Eduardo Cervantes López)

“Netarchy” is a flexible management concept that puts trust in workers and fosters creativity and business development. COVID-19 has resulted in much being re-evaluated and now may be the time to consider letting traditional hierarchies in poultry processing go and, instead, looking to the workforce to take the business forward.

Rather than a top-down approach, under a netarchy, each section of the plant is responsible for its own results. Dividing the processing operations into sections makes taking corrective action easier.

These management sections might be: live bird storage, hanging, evisceration, packing, cold room storage and cleaning and disinfection.

For each area or activity, groups of no more than four people are formed. Group members must have a broad conceptual and operational knowledge of each area including processing, quality, maintenance and machine operation. These teams then evaluate their section’s use of the plant’s raw materials – live or processed broilers – along with daily operational expenditure.

These modular evaluations should be overseen by a general coordinator, an employee with recognized experience in each area.

The following checklists could serve as guides for some of these areas.

Lairage to hanging

Waiting area:

  • Within the lairage, are all of the fans and humidifiers working properly?
  • Are digital thermo hygrometers properly calibrated and functioning?
  • Are the facilities in good condition?
  • Are chickens calm and breathing normally?
  • What is the average time spent in the lairage?
  • How many dead-on-arrivals are there?
  • Are cages unloaded with due care and attention?
  • Are the lids of all the cages delivered to the hanging area in good condition?
  • Are cages moved using dedicated trucks?
  • What percentage of cages or containers are in good condition?
  • Are broken cages repaired on a daily basis to prevent birds being harmed?

Shackling

  • What is the overhead conveyor speed?
  • Are all the shackles filled?
  • Are shackles in a good state of repair?
  • Are shackle connectors complete?
  • Are shackle wheels running on the rail normally?

Moving-broilers-processing-plant

Are birds moved in the correct way using trucks? | (Eduardo Cervantes López)

Transport to the bleed tunnel

  • Are broilers secure in their shackles?
  • Are their feet level?
  • Are birds flapping their wings while on the overhead conveyor?
  • Does the breast comforter vibrate and make proper contact with the breast?
  • How much time elapses between the last hanger and entry to the stunner?

Stunning

  • Do birds experience pre-shock on entering the stunning cabinet?
  • How long is the stun?
  • Do birds exit the water bath completely unconscious?
  • Do birds exit the stunner shaking and subsequently become calm?
  • How much time elapses between a bird exiting the stun bath and reaching the killer or the slaughter person?

Slaughter and bleed

  • What type cut is made – lateral, ventral or full decapitation?
  • Are birds calm while passing through the bleed tunnel?
  • How long does bleed take?
  • Are the birds dead on entering the scalder?
  • What percentage of blood is bled from the birds prior to entering the scalder?

Scalding and plucking 

  • What type of birds are being plucked, white or yellow birds?
  • Temperature and time in the scalder
  • Do birds float as they pass through the tank?
  • Does the scalder water have a lot of foam?
  • How much replacement water is added?
  • What is the breast surface temperature on exiting the scalder?
  • Is the route between the scalder exit and the entrance to the first plucker covered?
  • What is the breast surface temperature on entering the first plucker?
  • Are there heat escapes during plucking?
  • On exiting the last plucker, are the following observed?

Wings with dilated blood vessels

A red ring of various hues at the shoulder joint

Breast – torn skin

Breast – over-scalded

Tail – torn skin

Feathers on the tail or wings

  • The breast surface temperature on exiting the last plucker?

If all the above are properly checked in real time on a daily basis, issues can be investigated, and corrective action taken quickly to minimize any impact on dry yield prior to chilling.

Reducing expenditure 

Putting operations under the microscope to examine how cost savings can be achieved is a worthwhile exercise and there are a number of areas where this can be particularly valuable.

Scalding – water heating

If a plant does not process sub-products there is no need for a steam-producing boiler. A solar heater can be a good alternative.

Electricity 

Illumination comes via daylight in some areas of the processing plants but its use could be extended to other areas such as the scalding, plucking and evisceration. To complement this approach, solar panels could be used to provide electricity for night shifts. Additionally, installation of movement sensors can help ensure lights are only on when needed.

Some plants put all operations into motion at the start of a shift. From hanging to reaching the scalder takes at least 4 minutes, while scalding and plucking will take approximately 5 minutes. Starting scalders and pluckers too early will, over the course of a year, result in significant waste and these operations should be started only once they are needed.

Employees

Ergonomic evaluations of work areas can be carried out to ensure that a worker’s equipment is not reducing the yield per hour required from each worker.

Stoppages

To prevent stoppages, plants must have good daily maintenance. When unexpected stoppages occur, losses can be high. If stoppages occur in the sections between hanging and evisceration, the number of birds that will die from heat stress will rise, resulting in additional losses.

A management re-organization following the principles of netarchy can lead to not only the discovery of why certain sections of the processing plant may not be working as smoothly as they could be but allow immediate action to be taken if problems are discovered.

observing-broilers-during-scalding

Those close to operations are able to observe if broilers are fully emerged in scalding tanks. | (Eduardo Cervantes López)

 

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